"We are the only country in history that ever deliberately changed its ethnic makeup, and history has few examples of 'diversity' creating a stable society." - Richard Lamm, former governor of Colorado

Friday, June 01, 2007

Africa: Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid

Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid, leaving its most vulnerable citizens as destitute as they were before its civil war ended five years ago, experts say.

Since the guns fell silent after more than a decade of conflict, the former British colony -- a country of just 5 million people, rich in diamonds, iron ore and gold -- remains one of the poorest nations on earth.

Britain's military intervention in May 2000 stopped an advance on the capital Freetown by rebels renowned for hacking the limbs off their victims, and is often cited as an example of how to save a failing state.

"Five years ago this country was being taken over by gangsters who were killing innocent people, raping women, despoiling the country," outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair said during a trip to Sierra Leone this week.

"Today we have a situation in which in a few months time there will be an election, where you've got a doubling of the number of children in primary education, where you've got economic growth. ... I don't say that's perfection, but I say it is a darned sight better than what was here before."

While most analysts agree Britain's swift military action, with minimal cost to British lives, was positive, its assistance outside the security sector wins less whole-hearted praise.

Britain alone has spent 91 million pounds ($180 million) on non-military aid over the past three years and will provide a further 40 million this year. But endemic corruption has gone largely unchecked, analysts say.

"Things are as bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991. And Tony Blair's government bears a lot of responsibility for facilitating this state of affairs, precisely because they did not hold the government to account," said Mike McGovern, former West Africa director for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"Whatever British diplomats and development specialists in Freetown might have wanted to do, their hands were tied because Sierra Leone had already been declared a success in London, almost from the beginning," he told Reuters.

"(Sierra Leone's) government ... was able to read these signs just as clearly as if they had been delivered from 10 Downing Street by registered mail: there would be no accountability, no scrutiny, everything was permitted."